Prostate cancer drug MDV3100 offers significant results

Added by Erik West on November 3, 2011

Interim results of a clinical trial, released Thursday, of Medivation’s MDV3100 prostate cancer drug indicate patients receiving the drug live about 4.8 months longer compared to patients receiving placebo, an increase of about 37%.

Prostate cancer kills about 250,000 men around the world each year and is the second most common cause of cancer death in the U.S. – lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death.

Medivation and its Japanese partner, Astellas Pharma, plan to meet with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the coming months to provide the FDA with an update about when they may seek the drug’s approval. If approved, MDV3100 will compete with Johnson & Johnson’s Zytiga. The estimated size of the prostate cancer drug market is about US$9bn.

Analysts sat that MDV3100 seems to be more effective than Zytiga.

Shares in Medivation doubled in heavy trading after the announcement, to US$36.26. Shares of Johnson & Johnson were up by 0.5% to US$63.94.